Fourteen
hundred and thirty-seven years ago in 571 CE on 9th or 12th
of Rabi Al Oola, the ongoing month of Islamic calendar, a baby was
born in one of the most respected household of Makkah. Abdul Mutallib,
the chief of Banu Hashim, as the household was referred to as, and the
grandfather of the newly born was ecstatic. “Ecstatic, Abdul Mutallib
took his grand son to Holy Ka’ba. Prayed for him and named him as
Mohammad”, narrates 15-year old Zinneerah Tabassum, a student at
Kulliyah Aisha.

Prejudice is like
poison. Unless purged out of one’s mind in early stages, it can
spread like cancer and make one incapable of differentiating between
right and wrong. Of the many kinds of prejudice, the worst is to
believe that one’s own religion is superior to all others, which may
be tolerated but never taken seriously or accepted as equally valid
as one’s own.

“Abdur Rahman ibn Ka'b ibn Malik reported on
the authority of a man from among the companions of the Prophet
(peace be upon him): The infidels of the Quraysh wrote (a letter) to
Ibn Ubayy and to those who worshipped idols from al-Aws and al-Khazraj,
while the Apostle of Allah (peace be upon him) was at that time at
Medina before the battle of Badr. (They wrote): You gave protection
to our companion. We swear by Allah, you should fight him or expel
him, or we shall come to you in full force, until we kill your
fighters and appropriate your women”

Riyadh: The Saudi king has
made an impassioned plea for dialogue among Muslims, Christians and
Jews — the first such proposal from a nation with no diplomatic ties
to Israel and a ban on non-Muslim religious services and symbols.

The message from King Abdullah, which
was welcomed by Jewish, Christian and Muslim leaders, comes at a
time of stalled peace initiatives and escalating tensions in the
region.

Muslims have been angered by cartoons
published in European papers seen as insulting the Prophet Muhammad
and by the pope's baptising on Easter of a Muslim journalist who had
converted to Catholicism.

"The idea is to ask representatives of
all monotheistic religions to sit together with their brothers in
faith and sincerity to all religions as we all believe in the same
God," the king told delegates on Monday night at a seminar on
"Culture and the Respect of Religions."

The specifics of Abdullah's initiative
— and who would participate — remained unclear, in particular
whether Israeli religious leaders would be invited to a
Saudi-brokered dialogue. The kingdom and all other Arab nations
except Egypt and Jordan do not have diplomatic relations with Israel
and generally shun unofficial contacts.

The call — the first of its kind by an
Arab leader — was significant. The Saudi monarch is the custodian of
Islam's two holiest shrines in Mecca and Medina, a position that
lends his words special importance and influence. Abdullah said
Saudi Arabia's top clerics have given him the green light — crucial
backing in a society that expects decisions taken by its rulers to
adhere to Islam's tenets.

It also raises the possibility that a
religious dialogue could have a political impact in the Middle East,
easing tensions between Arabs and Israelis in a way that years of
off-and-on negotiations and political conferences have failed to do.

The White House welcomed the king's
gesture.

"We think increased dialogue is a
really good thing," presidential spokeswoman Dana Perino said on
Tuesday. "And, of course, when you have someone like the king of
Saudi Arabia, and all of his stature, that is recommending such a
dialogue, it can only give us hope that there would be further
recognition of everyone's right to freedom and freedom of expression
and religion. So we are encouraged by it."

Abdullah said he planned to hold
conferences to get the opinion of Muslims from other parts of the
world, and then meetings with "our brothers" in Christianity and
Judaism "so we can agree on something that guarantees the
preservation of humanity against those who tamper with ethics,
family systems and honesty."

Abdullah, who said he discussed the
idea with Pope Benedict XVI when they met at the Vatican in
November, framed his appeal in strictly religious and ethical terms,
aimed at addressing the weakening of the family, increasing atheism
and "a lack of ethics, loyalty, and sincerity for our religions and
humanity."

A Saudi official with knowledge of the
proposal said it was not intended to have a regional political
angle, saying, "the initiative is not aimed at the Middle East but
at the whole world. It's a global initiative." The official spoke on
condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

But Abdullah,
considered a reformer in Saudi politics, has in the past proposed
peace deals with Israel, saying his country and other Arab nations
are willing to recognise
the Jewish state as long as it gives up land to Palestinians.

Prominent Saudi cleric, Sheik Muhammad
al-Nujaimi, said he saw no reason why any Saudi official, including
Abdullah, cannot meet with Jewish religious leaders. "The only
condition is for the rabbi not to be supportive of the massacres
against the Palestinian people," he said.

In Israel, Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger
welcomed Abdullah's call.

"Our hand is outstretched to any peace
initiative and any dialogue that is aimed at bringing an end to
terror and violence," he said in a statement.

Rabbi David Rosen, head of
inter-religious relations at the American Jewish Committee and a
former chief rabbi of Ireland, said framing the dialogue in
religious terms was key.

"Religion is all too often the
problem, so it has to also be the solution, or at least part of the
solution and I think that the tragedy of the political initiatives
to bring peace has been the failure to include the religious
dimension," he said.

Yossi Beilin, a former Israeli peace
negotiator, said a Saudi-backed dialogue between Muslims and Jews
"could be a balancing factor" against extremists but cannot replace
diplomacy.

"Negotiations need to be negotiations
and you don't mix religion into a diplomatic conflict, because then
there is a danger of turning it into a religious war," he said.

Michael Cromartie, chairman of the US
Commission on International Religious Freedom, which monitors
religious freedom globally and makes policy recommendations, called
the proposed dialogue long overdue.

"I don't care who you put in the room
— the fact they're having the conversation can only help," he said.
"It's a courageous thing for the king to do. One should not expect
Utopia, but it's a start to have an open and free dialogue in a
country with a reputation for religious oppression."

Saudi Arabia follows a severe
interpretation of Islam known as Wahhabism, and it was not clear
whether Abdullah's call would be followed by steps in the kingdom to
relax the ban on non-Muslim worship services, as well as symbols
from other religions, such as crosses and Bibles.

Abdullah's contacts with Benedict are
also significant.

Benedict angered many Muslims with a
2006 speech in which he cited a medieval text that described some of
the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad as "evil and inhuman,"
particularly the command to spread the faith "by the sword." He
later expressed regret that his remarks angered Muslims and stressed
that the text didn't reflect his own opinion.

In an audiotape released last week,
al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden accused Benedict of playing a "large
and lengthy role" in what he called a "new Crusade" against Islam.
Bin Laden also warned of a "severe" reaction for Europe's
publication of the Muhammad cartoons.

Muhammad al-Zulfa, a member of the
Saudi Consultative Council — an appointed body that acts like a
parliament — said Abdullah's conciliatory remarks were "a message to
all extremists: Stop using religion."

Antonios Kireopoulos, head of
Interfaith Relations at the National Council of Churches, agreed,
noting: "Despite recent years of hostilities, usually by extremists,
... there have been generations of peace between Muslims, Christians
and Jews."

The problem here is that there is a pattern that is very
easy to see. In countries where Muslim is the majority, the Muslims do
whatever it takes to make Islam the only religion of that country. They do
whatever it takes to wipe out all other beliefs and religions and all
other cultures. When Muslim is not a majority, they demand equal right and
equal protection, while at the same time, they they do whatever it takes
to increase their own number, so one day they will become the majority. If
this scheme is allowed to continue, some day, the whole world will be
totally under Islam, or Islam will be destroyed, one way or another.

“Let the Muslims proclaim a million times that Iqbal is
theirs, but let me declare, Iqbal belongs to we all and confining
Iqbal to a particular religion or community is injustice to this
great poet himself”, said a professor at a function held at Mysore
University in the honor of Iqbal when he visited Mysore in January
1929 on the special invitation of the Maharaja of Mysore... Read Full

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